At present, the November death toll for US service members stationed in Iraq is 17. M-NF's pattern of announcing monthly deaths a day or two (or three or four) after a month's end means that number could increase. It cannot, however, decrease. Unless you are the BBC which foolishly 'informs' today: "At the same time US military deaths continue to decrease with six US troops killed in November compared to 29 in the same month last year. " Looking at last month's deaths, the first thing you may try to do to excuse the BBC's idiotic claim is see how many 'hostile' deaths there were. When you find out that the number was seven, you probably won't be in the mood to excuse the fools at the BBC. You'll be less inclined when you note the not under investigation non-'hostile' deaths. For example, November 15th's: Chrisian P. Humphreys and Donald V. Clark. Both men died in a Mosul helicopter crash. Is the BBC saying the two men could have prevented their own deaths? Hard to see how short of refusing to serve in Iraq.
Seven US troops did not die in Iraq last month, 17 did. BBC wins Fool For The Day. And more than earns it.
Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) reports a double bombing at a Baghdad police academy which has claimed at least 16 lives (probably 17 since one of the bombings was a "suicide vest bombing") with forty-six people injured. Al Jazeera adds:
Elsewhere in the country on Monday, 15 people were killed and about 30 wounded in a suicide car bombing against a joint US-Iraqi patrol in the centre of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police said.
"A suicide bomber blew his car up in the path of a joint patrol between Iraqi police and the American military in Mosul al-Jadida," a police officer at the scene was reported by the AFP news agency as saying.
In this morning's New York Times, James Risen offers "End of Immunity Worries U.S. Contractors in Iraq" which notes that limbo the group is in now and why:
* "the weak and often corrupt Iraqi judicial system"
* "the lack of details on how the security agreement works"
* "whether the pact will be able to prosecute Americans for past crimes"
Yeah, when the treaty is only vetted by one side (Iraqi) and when it's not released to the American people, it's a little hard to figure out what's what. Risen estimates there are over 170,000 contractors in Iraq currently.
Bonnie reminds that Kat did two CD reviews over the holiday, "Kat's Korner: Labelle's neither 'back' nor 'now'" and "Kat's Korner: Break Up The Ass Kiss."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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